prayer

Good afternoon…

Never before have I felt compelled to share a second blog post on the same day. With email responses piling up from this morning’s message, Praying for Olga, I offer us an intimate update from Ukraine. Throughout the day, I have heard from many of you who yearn to join our hearts in prayer on behalf of the vulnerable men, women, and children of Ukraine. I will share some of your thoughts as evening falls.

  • Well done, Sue! Olga’s words help make personal and real what so many have difficulty comprehending: 40,000,000 people are under attack, fighting and dying, uprooted, saying goodbye to loved ones, starving, sick with worry, and otherwise suffering. Sadly, this cynical aphorism comes to mind, “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” No doubt Putin hopes that will be the reaction of those outside the country to what is going on in Ukraine. We can’t let that happen. We will pray for Olga and the rest of the brave Ukrainian people, and we will ask God to give the leaders of the free world all the compassion and discernment they need.
  • My dear, sweet friend, THANK YOU FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL BLOG POST…….yes, prayers for Olga and all of those suffering and yes, O Lord hear our prayers…..O Lord, hear our prayers……
  • As she offered a gratitude gift to support our written word ministry, one reader wrote: “Sue, Thank you for all you do to help and uplift others.”
  • Thank you so much, Sue – such heavy hearts and so many prayers this morning, and we know God is in control. I truly cannot imagine what these people are facing, and the world gets a front row seat thanks to technology. My teenage son was the one who made the remark, it’s one thing to read about wars, but to see blood pouring out in real time is horrific. Perhaps in making it more real for so many, our prayers will intensify accordingly.
  • Watching the sunset video I thought of the prayer my pastor friend sent me this week:
  • This is another day, O Lord.
    I know not what it will bring 
forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be.
    If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely.
    If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly.
    If I am to lie low, help me to do it
 patiently.
    And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly.
    Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit
 of Jesus.
    Amen.
  • The people of Ukraine are suffering before our eyes. The images from the underground train stations being used as bomb shelters tugged at my heart – little toddlers in strollers, frightened, powerless parents, people holding their beloved pets, the elderly crumpled on concrete. These are ordinary people, just like you and me, and they just happen to be born in a country that is being ripped apart by the decisions of one man wielding violent power.
  • We know that God is in control, is present with all of us as the sun rises and sets across our globe, but it hard to witness the ravages of war. I do hope these unsettling images enhance our personal realization: “This could be me and my family if I happened to be born in a different location.” Our conscious awareness of the pain being inflicted helps to intensify our prayers around the world. As we pour out our hearts, our passionate prayers do not fall on deaf ears. We know God hears. We know God cares. We know that God will make a way for love, peace, and joy to rise out of this chaos.
  • Oh my gosh, Sue. I’ve thought since I was a young child that just by virtue of where I was born I have advantages that most of the world will never have. I’ve been studying Matthew 25 – so I must return to God with interest what He has richly blessed me with in my life. I invest my time in private prayer for all of these Ukrainian families torn apart by war.
  • Watching the news this morning, what comes to mind is a powerful debate between an atheist Columbia University professor and Pastor Tim Keller – the professor said he could not believe in a God that would allow the extermination of 8 million people in the Holocaust, to which Keller responded, “I want to make sure I understand your question. Are you asking me how millions of Christians worldwide could stand by and not respond?” I think we can all sit with that. Fear paralyzes.
  • A local pastor, Joby Martin, shared this: “The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is fear, because fear is just misplaced faith. Fear is when we take our trust and we put it in our changing circumstances, and what God calls us to do is snatch our trust back and put our faith, our trust, in the sovereign King over all of our circumstances. You see faith produces action and fear paralyzes. What word describes you: faithful or fearful? The Bible says perfect love drives out fear.”
  • Such a terrible, gut wrenching day, but you are showing the love of Christ by taking action – thank you.
  • I would love to see an International Day of Prayer.
  • Yes, I think it is a great call to unite our voices together as we pray for those in Ukraine. Thank you, Sue.

The most powerful of all of my interactions today came from Olga herself.

“Thank you for your blog post today, Sue,” Olga’s friend from our Friday morning class texted me.

“Yes, so many have responded to this message and are lifting Olga and her whole country into the healing light of God’s loving care,” I replied. “Like you said, their terrible plight is so sad.”

“I sent your blog to Olga,” my friend explained, “…and she responded ‘Thank you, Pam!!! Please tell THANK YOU to all of those praying.'”

“Oh how amazing,” I admired the interconnectivity spanning the globe. “I love that we are so instantly and intimately connected. From afar, I trust that she feels the strength of our praying presence. What a blessing to all of us that God is bonding us so beautifully.”

“Yes…” Pam texted. “It somehow makes the distance between us shrink. I think Olga really feels empowered by our prayers. I sure hope so.”

“God’s mysterious web is so powerful, so intimate, so uplifting,” I sensed the Spirit at work among us. “God finds a way when there seems to be no way. I love that Olga knows that so many are praying for her, her loved ones, and all of her fellow Ukrainians.”

“I’ve never felt the power of prayer to be so far reaching and so inclusive,” Pam concluded in her final text of the day. “We have gathered together to devote ourselves to prayer.”

A fresh idea stirs in me now, “Why don’t we initiate an International Day of Prayer, allowing God’s living Spirit to ripple out from the heart of our written word community?” Pondering the perspectives shared above, as you rise in the morning, I invite you to engage in a designated Sabbath Day of Prayer, sensing in solidarity with God the painful plight of the men, women, and children of Ukraine.

Please forward this message to anyone across the globe who might want to join hands with our hearts. May we be like the first followers of Christ. With one mind, all of them kept devoting themselves to prayer… (Acts 1:14, ISV).

…Sue…